Tuesday, July 28, 2009

RIP HailBoy

HailBoy, the pumpkin who initially survived a horrific hail storm and tornado died today due to trauma caused by the storm. It grew for 17 days. It put up a good fight, but in the end the hail was just to much. It was an estimated 35 lbs and is now the 35 est. Johnson (1350 Starr x 1566 Rodonis). That weight is almost too embarrassing to print. Not the 1200 Johnson that I was hoping for. There were actually seeds inside and many seemed mature enough to possibly be viable. In a couple of weeks I'll plant 5 seeds and see if anything comes up.

If they are good and you would like some seeds just let me know. Thad Starr was once told not to grow the 227 Leland because the seed came from a very small pumpkin. He then went off and grew a 1,524 pounder off of it. I'm going to go under him by 192 pounds and make the hottest new seed from a 35 pounder. Lol

Thanks to Chris Strickler at CBS Excavating for letting me grow on his property this year!

13 comments:

Bryan(dirtybry)
said...

I just about shed a tear when I caught site of you holding Hailboy. I was rooting for him and you all the way. It would have been the comeback of all time. If the seeds are viable I would be honored to grow "son of hailboy" next season.

I know growers who have done clones. Usually you do a clone when you have a plant that produce a really big pumpkin and you want to either grow it again or you want to use it as a pollinator the next season. Since my 1350 hasn't proven its self as a big producer I don't want to go to the trouble of maintaining the plant indoors all winter. I don't have a good setup for that.

I have been following your post as a Utah gardener growing several varieties of pumpkins...and I really was sick about your pumpkin loss! We had a huge windstorm on Thursday night and while the power pole out front was blowing down into the road, I was in the garden trying to fence up the corn, half of which was already on the ground. Gardens can be so wonderfully frustrating! Pumpkins made it through...except for the big one the deer took several bites out of.

The pumpkin grew for 3-4 days and then stopped. About 4 days later it got soft and started to go down. I think the stress finally caught up to the plant. I then started my patch prep early for next year.

About This Pumpkin Blog

This blog is dedicated to anyone who loves big pumpkins. My entire pumpkin growing season is included on this site along with tips & secrets for gardening. Feel free to post a comment on any article and I will post a reply in that same comment section usually within 24 hours.